[nfbcs] FW: Scientific Calculator

[Nicole B. Torcolini at Home]

Is using a computer based calculator an option? I stopped using a hand held 
calculator and went to computer based solutions starting my senior year of 
high school.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David W Bundy" <bundy at pobox.com>
To: <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2012 4:02 PM
Subject: [nfbcs] FW: Scientific Calculator




I wonder if any of you have any suggestions re the below situation.  She is 
using the Orion TI35.  (I have removed names from the original e-mail to 
preserve confidentiality)

From: ****Sent: Tuesday, June 26, 2012 5:09 PM
Subject: FW: Scientific Calculator





I need to inform you that ****’s math instructor, ****, has made a 
disturbing discovery.  ****’s talking scientific calculator does not compute 
correctly (see email below).  I have a different brand of talking scientific 
calculator in my office, and unfortunately, it has the same limitation. 
This is completely unfair and unfortunate for ****.



The error in computing caused ****to get many of her homework and test 
problems wrong, even though she may have entered the information into the 
calculator correctly (in the format that is taught and is standardly used). 
We would like to correct this problem as soon as possible.



I am requesting that you investigate other calculator options that would 
work for **** in an educational setting; this would be one that reads 
parentheses as multiplication.



I would be glad to discuss this further if you would like.



Thank you for your attention to this!






Sally Herlong, M.Ed.

Department Manager

Special Resources/Disability Services

York Technical College

452 S. Anderson Rd., Rock Hill, SC 29730

Tel: 803.325.2896 | Fax: 803.325.2897







The information transmitted via this email is intended only for the 
addressee and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any 
interception, review, retransmission, dissemination, or taking of any action 
upon this information by persons or entities other than the intended is 
strictly prohibited. If you receive this communication in error, please 
contact us at 803.981.7111, and delete the communication from any computer 
or network system.





From: Leah Hollingsworth
Sent: Tuesday, June 26, 2012 10:52 AM
To: Sally Herlong
Subject: Scientific Calculator



Sally,



As we discussed, Angie’s scientific calculator is not reading parentheses as 
multiplication. For a basic compounding interest problem, I would enter in 
“12000(1+.09)^7” into my TI 84. (See the screen shot below.)



Screenshot of correct processing of a scientific calculator. It reads: 12000 
(1+.09) raised to the 7th power = 21,936.46945.

TI 84 calculator screenshot 1

However, when I entered it into Angie’s calculator, using the same notation 
of “12000(1+.09)^7”, my answer was 1.828039121,which is (1+.09)^7. It is not 
reading the parentheses as multiplication. I then attempted the problem 
again, however pressing Enter twice, to see if that would take into account 
the multiplication of 12000 out front and it didn’t. The answer it gave me 
was 68.21790833, which is 1.828039121 raised to the 7th power.



I asked two colleagues whether they thought a “scientific” calculator should 
be reading parentheses as multiplication and they both agreed. Even basic 
calculators are able to read parentheses as multiplication.



Please let me know if you need any more information from me or if I can do 
anything else to help.



Thanks

Leah




Leah Hollingsworth

Instructor

Mathematics

York Technical College

452 S. Anderson Rd., Rock Hill, SC 29730

Tel: 803.981.7720 | Fax: 803.981.7216







The information transmitted via this email is intended only for the 
addressee and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any 
interception, review, retransmission, dissemination, or taking of any action 
upon this information by persons or entities other than the intended is 
strictly prohibited. If you receive this communication in error, please 
contact us at 803.981.7111, and delete the communication from any computer 
or network system.








--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


> _______________________________________________
> nfbcs mailing list
> nfbcs at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbcs_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
> nfbcs:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbcs_nfbnet.org/ntorcolini%40wavecable.com
>